Salvatore VALENTI

I am an urban and social historian (University of Leicester, School of History, Politics, International Relations, PhD). My main research interest is in the field of urban and environmental history, with a specific focus on water infrastructures. My first book, Water in the Making of a Socio-Natural Landscape, Rome and its Surroundings, 1870-1922 (Routledge, 2022) explores the various elements involved in this social struggle for water access, use and distribution and its practical effects on the making of the Roman space. It analyses, within the Roman context, the projects of Italian modernity that involved water, how water was conceptualised and perceived by various members of the Italian elites, the evolution of the Italian water legislation, the impact of cholera and the medicalisation of water, the private pursuits for profits by means of water and local patterns of use.

Currently, I am a member of the ERC Advanced Grant group “The Water Cultures of Italy, 1500-1900”. As part of my research I am examining the evolution of the medical concept of water, the impact of Asiatic Cholera, and the renewal of water infrastructure in Italian cities during the nineteenth century.

Full CV: https://unive.academia.edu/SalvatoreVALENTI/CurriculumVitae